Euclid
Old Euclid drew a circleOn a sand-beach long ago.He bounded and enclosed itWith angles thus and so.His set of solemn greybeardsNodded and argued muchOf arc and of circumference,Diameter and such.A silent child stood by themFrom morning until noonBecause they drew such charmingRound pictures of the moon.
About this text
Euclid is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Congo, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #1021; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Vachel Lindsay, Euclid, in The Congo and Other Poems (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1021, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lindsay-congo/euclid.html, id L00980.
Form and metre
Euclid is 12 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.6 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 58% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -A-A-B-B-C-C circle · agoA · it · soA · greybeards · muchB · circumference · suchB · them · noonC · charming · moonC
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Old Euclid drew a circle | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| On a sand-beach long ago. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| He bounded and enclosed it | 7 | ·/˘·˘/· |
| With angles thus and so. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| His set of solemn greybeards | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Nodded and argued much | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| Of arc and of circumference, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Diameter and such. | 6 | ˘/˘˘·· |
| A silent child stood by them | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| From morning until noon | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Because they drew such charming | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Round pictures of the moon. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.